Chapter 1 contained a brief description of the research methodology of this
book, a methodology that integrates features of policy analysis and
conceptual analysis. In this chapter, my aim is to provide a rationale for the
choice of this methodology and to spell it out in greater detail. Formulating
such a rationale, it will be seen, involves consideration of a number of
epistemological and logical questions and must at least consider the methods
of social science disciplines. The difficulty in doing this is borne of
methodological turmoil in these disciplines, turmoil characterized by
challenges to the practice and theoretical underpinning of positivism.
Discussion of this controversy forms the first section of Chapter 2.

EPISTEMOLOGICAL FOUNDATIONS: CHALLENGES
TO POSITIVISM

The methodology of policy analysis as conceived of and practiced
by the large majority of contemporary researchers in diverse fields such as
health care, urban planning, crime, education, communications, and
transportation aspires to be "scientific." All share a basic commitment to policy science and its philosophical roots in positivism.

Positivism can be described in reference to three premises, premises
that reveal its epistemological assumptions and stance on the role of the
researcher vis-a-vis objects of knowledge. First, positivism is a deeply
skeptical philosophy embodying the impulse to set aside all claims to truth
and value based on the authority of posited belief systems or historical
practice. It contends that if human knowledge could only free itself from
accumulated belief in dogmas of all kinds, "it could dig down deep to some
bedrock of certainty and then logically and methodically rebuild a body of
knowledge, [and thus] know the truth."1 Second, scientific discovery,
achievement of knowledge of the truth, places severe demands on the
activities of the researcher. "Not only must scientists avoid sources of error
coming from outside, they must also control or suppress sources of bias

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